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Although the liner notes suggest that all of the sounds were created using the organ, there appears to be a regular human drummer playing along (probably percussionist and co-producer Larry Brown). On this track, you not only hear sounds of a drum machine that sounds similar to the Wurlitzer Swingin’ Rhythm machine introduced in 1969.
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The instrument was equipped with the latest Wurlitzer rhythm machine built in. Album produced to showcase the sounds of the Wurlitzer Orbit III organ, the “orbit” portion being a a third, two-octave keyboard that was a monophonic synthesizer. Jerry Styner And Larry Brown, “Dock of the Bay” from Orbit III (1971 Beverly Hills). This was the common performance practice for such artists on the electrified theatre organ in the 1950s.Ħ. All played without a program or sequencer. On the keyboard he had access to such voices as the snare drum, brush cymbal, tambourine, castanets, Chinese block, tom tom, sand block, and various mallet instruments. You can detect the ever-so slightly missed timings here and there and the variety of sounds he could conjure from such pedals as bass, kettle, and field drums, cymbals, brush cymbals and trap drums.
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Using a combination of pedals and keys, he was able to manually create percussion sounds as he played the accompanying chords and melodies, which was the way it was done prior to a drum machine. The record is by George Wright and it’s played on a 5-manual Wurlitzer theater organ. Here is an example from 1958, the heyday of the electronic theater organ. It was all done by playing the sounds manually on the keys and pedals, not a small feat and certainly one that required a special acumen playing many parts at once. Unfortunately, they never sold well and were out of production after about a year.Before we begin with the drum machines, I thought it would be informative to listen to an example of how organists had previously been accompanying themselves with percussion effects. Dano had me laughing quite a bit because he was commenting on how complex the electronics were, and how only a true nerd could have come up with the schematic!! These were ambitious guitars, both in design and function, with some nice components and unique designs. The little rocker switches are preset tone controls that seem to aim for rock or jazz settings.
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Cougars were wired for stereo-they are among the first stereo guitars-so there is a fader knob as well as a 3-way pickup selector. The tones are definitely 1960s, albeit a little thin-sounding. The Sensi-Tones single-coils sound good, but suffer a bit from a complex wiring scheme with many capacitors buried under the pickguard. The well-made pickups and tremolo were Holman-Woodell exclusives, produced in house. This factory produced some cool guitars, including the bizarre LaBaye 2×4 models made (somewhat) famous by Devo’s Bob Mothersbaugh. These wild things were made in Neodesha, Kansas, at the Holman-Woodell factory, which made guitars from 1965 until around 1968. Cougars were also available in “Taffy White” and “Lollipop Red.” There were two other Wurlitzer models (the Wildcat and the Gemini) and the entire lineup was referred to as “The Wild Ones!” It dates to 1966 and is called the Cougar model 2512 (the 2512 denotes the sunburst color). Back in the ’90s, I found this guitar shown in the same small-town piano store where it originally sold in the ’60s! The whole shop was a time capsule from that bygone era-so much so that I initially thought the guitar was brand new! But for about a year in the mid 1960s, the company produced an interesting line of electric guitars. For most guitarists, the Wurlitzer name stirs up memories of cool electric pianos or the old organ in your grandparents’ sitting room.